I have to agree, leaving the USA gets rid of the rose-tinted "USA #1" glasses, and the USA isn't as comparatively safe a country as many Americans believe it to

I have to agree, leaving the USA gets rid of the rose-tinted "USA #1" glasses, and the USA isn't as comparatively safe a country as many Americans believe it to be. In the USA if I lost my wallet, I'd guess around 10% chance of getting it back intact, 30% chance of getting it back with ID and cards, but without cash, and the remaining 60% of never seeing it again. That being said, I wouldn't throw all of Europe in with them in this case. I lost my wallet for the first time a few months ago in Prague. The ones who found it went through the effort of finding my contact information (I only had my student ID in my wallet, no contact information whatsoever, my mistake) and when we met up and it was returned to me all the money was still in it. Although that is only one personal case, I spent around 5 months touring 15 different countries in Europe and witnessed people leaving laptops at the coffee shop unwatched and just leaving their bikes completely unsecured in front of the subway entrance as part of their commute, which are both pretty strong signals that many of those nations share a culture where theft simply isn't common.